08/03/2018 House of Commons

victims, but also to the families

around than who must be having such

a worried and anxious time right

now.

Audit. Point of order, Yvette

Cooper.

Thank you. Can you advise on

the course of action when a private

company gives commitments and

assurances to Parliament and its

select committees on issues that

affect national security and public

safety and then fails to meet them?

There is widely available on YouTube

this week the band illegal

propaganda videos from the extremist

prescribed organisation National

action. Despite the fact this video

has been raised with YouTube and

Google seven times by the select

committee over the past 12 months,

despite the fact they have promised

us that that video is illegal and

will be taken down and they would

have the technology to prevent it

being put back up, have you had any

indication that the government will

look into this? And do you share my

immense concern that this was one of

the richest companies in the world

and is failing to meet its basic

responsibilities to tackle extremism

and protect public safety in this

country?

Grateful to the right

honourable lady for her point of

order and I share her intense

concern on the matter. National

Action is, as I'm sure everyone in

the house will agree, a despicable

fascist neo-Nazi organisation. My

understanding is that it has been

proscribed. It was prescribed by the

Home Secretary. If those commitments

had been made, they must be

honoured. The right honourable lady

suggested that commitments had been

given by those companies, not merely

to her as an individual, but perhaps

to the home affairs select

committee. If that is so, and those

commitments have not been honoured,

it is open to the committee, but it

should not be necessary for the

committee to demand, as a matter of

urgency, the appearance of

representatives of one or more of

those companies before it to explain

itself. This matter must be sorted

sooner rather than later, and my

strong sense is that that would be

the will of the house, but I think

that the will of the house can also

be expressed on the public audit

considerations can most

appropriately be articulated by the

Home Secretary who thankfully is in

her place.

Just briefly, if I may,

the Right honourable lady is

absolutely right to raise this

issue. National Action, as you

rightly said, is a prescribed group.

I prescribed it myself. It is a

terrorist organisation. The fact is

Internet companies have made good

progress in taking down Daesh book

is material and we have demonstrated

they can take down with our own

system, we've shown 94% of material

that goes up from Daesh rote type

organisations, but we need to see

much more effort into the particular

area of the extreme right wing

groups like the honourable lady has

raised. We need to see more effort

by using artificial intelligence and

I hope the right honourable lady can

work with me to make sure we hold

them all to account.

I'm grateful.

We would not want a situation to

arise in which the right honourable

lady felt it necessary to write to

me alleging a contempt of the house.

That is a recourse open to her, of

course, if people do not comply and

do not under their undertakings. We

very much hope that will happen

very, very soon. Thank you.

On a

point of order, today we've had

reports in the media that one in ten

councils could follow Tory

Northamptonshire into technical

bankruptcy according to the National

Audit Office. The main causes are

the relentless 50% cuts in central

government funding to councils and

the increasing pressures on

children's and adult services,

resulting in the cutting of other

vital services. The unsustainable

one off sales of assets and the use

of reserves. Given this is the worst

crisis facing local government in

the sector's 170 year history, and

given the government is unwilling

and unprepared to give time to the

opposition to debate matters like

this, as the secretary of state

given you, sir, any indication that

he will come to the house today to

make a statement so that members can

question his disastrous splash and

burn strategy and the findings of

this most devastating National Audit

Office report in the fullest manner

possible?

He has given me no such

indication and I must say to the

honourable gentleman that the

secretary of state is a very willing

fellow but we wouldn't in any way or

case want to countenance the idea of

him interfering with the time

available for the debate about

International Women's Day. However

he has registered his concern, which

will have been heard on the Treasury

bench, and I note what he says about

the absence of opposition supply

days at the moment which would be a

normal mechanism by which such

matters could be out. If he and his

colleagues want such matters to be

aired in the chamber, he can rest

assured that they will be aired will

stop they can be aired on the terms

of the secretary of state in the

form of a statements, which would be

open to him to volunteer, but if

they are not aired in that way, they

will be aired in another way. If

there are no further point of order,

I'm grateful. We come to the

presentation of Bill. Christine

Jardine. Second reading, what day?

June 15.

June 15, thank you. Order.

Presentation of Bill, Chris Green.

Forensic science regulator Bill.

What day?

Friday 16th of March.

Friday 16th March, thank you. Thank

you, colleagues. We now come to the

general debate relating to Vote 100

and International Women's Day will

stop its a busy day for the Home

Secretary, but for these purposes

more particularly for the Minister

for women and equality who will

move. Amber Rudd.

I beg to move that

this house welcomes International

Women's Day. As an occasion to come

together to celebrate the

achievements of women whilst also

recognising the inequalities that

still exist. Across the world,

International Women's Day is being

marked with arts performances,

talks, rallies, conferences, marches

and debates like this one. It is a

great honour to be leading today's

debate. 2018 is a particularly

significant here to be having this

discussion in the UK, as we mark 100

years since some women won the right

to vote after a long and arduous

struggle. In 1919, Nancy Astor

became the first women to take a

seat in the house. Can you imagine

walking into this chamber as the

loan woman amongst a crowd of men?

It wouldn't be until 1979 that we

would get our first female Prime

Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

The Parliament I joined in 2010 was

a different place to the Parliament

of Nancy Astor's day. There were 142

other female MPs on the benches and

we had a female Home Secretary, a

trend I am proud to continue, and we

now have a more diverse Parliament

than ever with 208 female MPs, a

third of the Cabinet are women and

we also have our second female Prime

Minister. But getting women into

Parliament isn't simply about

changing the faces on these benches.

At its heart, it's about how we use

our position is here to make

meaningful change to women's lives

across the UK and the world because

from here, we can bring about real

change. I give way to the honourable

lady.

I am grateful. I want to join

her in bottling International

Women's Day and the fact that the

commission on the status of women is

meeting again in New York next week

and which she agreed that it's

really important that it comes up

with strong policies so that women

in rural communities are adequately

supported?

I would like to agree

with her that the meeting on the

commission for women is going to be

important and her emphasis on making

sure that we get real policies for

women in rural communities is also

essential. I am proud to be part of

a Government that has wholeheartedly

committed to improving the lives of

women and girls. Since 2010, we have

made significant progress to excel a

gender equality at home and abroad.

Whether this is by empowering women

in the workplace, tackling violence

against women and girls on improving

girls education across the globe.

There is much more to do. Sexual

harassment scandals, stories of

debauched dinners, one third of

women worldwide experiencing

physical or sexual violence and an

estimated 118 years to close the

global gender pay gap. As the theme

for this year's International

Women's Day makes clear, we must

continue to press for progress. This

effort must disband countries and

continents, policy areas and

political allegiances -- this effort

must span countries. I want about

three areas where women are losing

out to men globally and what we're

going to do about it. The first is

violence. Too many women and girls

face harm and abuse. The second is

money, more women still earn less

than their male counterparts do. The

third is influence. I run the world,

men still occupy the majority of the

top jobs. -- around the world.

Violence, a truly equal society is

one where everyone is free from the

threat of gendered violence and

today I am proud to announce the

launch of the Government's

consultation into tackling domestic

abuse. This consultation will help

inform the introduction of the

domestic abuse Bill. We know that

domestic abuse affects approximately

2 million people in England and

Wales every year and the majority of

these victims are women. This

Government is determined to do all

we can to confront the devastating

impact that this has on victims and

their families and in doing so,

address a key cause of gender

inequality. Our consultation seeks

to transform our approach to

domestic abuse, addressing the issue

at every stage from prevention to

early intervention to bringing more

perpetrators to justice. It

reinforces our determination to make

domestic abuse everyone's business.

This comprehensive consultation will

last for 12 weeks and I encourage

every member of the House to engage

with it and shaded with those in

their networks who have or should

have an interest in this area. Share

it with those in their networks.

This is an opportunity to bring

those crimes out of the shadows.

The

Minister will know that last week

the United Nations commission on

discrimination against women said

that how we treat women in Northern

Ireland by denying them access to

abortion in their formation is a

form of violence against women.

Today, 135 parliamentarians across

the House have written to her,

asking with another deflation to

commit to providing an opportunity

to put that right. Will she give

women in Northern Ireland equal

opportunities government access to

abortion rights?

I thank her for the

good work she has done in this area

and the good work she has done to

make sure that for the first time,

women in Northern Ireland have

access to abortions and we now have

a new system, a centralised system

for those women who can find it much

easier than they ever have before to

access that health support that I

know she thinks as I do is so vital

going forward. On the consultation,

it will last for 12 weeks and I urge

every member of the House to engage

with it because domestic violence

isn't the only type of violence

which demands are urgent attention.

Internationally, we must continue to

combat violence against women and

girls. Globally, one in three women

are beaten or sexually abused in a

lifetime. We are generating world

leading evidence through our £25

million what works to prevent

violence against women and girls

programme. This year resulted in 15

intervention is being evaluated

across Africa and Asia. It will

provide new global evidence about

what works to stop violence before

it starts. We want is evidence to be

a game changer in supporting more

effective UK and international

support for ending violence against

women and girls globally. It is

essential that we put what we

learned into practice.

I welcome the

announcement she is making about the

international dimension to

protecting women against violence.

Can she ensure the House that as

part of consultation on violence

against women here at that refugees

are probably resourced -- refuges?

Many have closed down in my

constituency and women need proper

support when they have to go to

refuges because they have faced

violence. Can she assure the House

that will happen?

I can assure the

House that making sure that women

have the right support at refuges is

an essential part of the support we

will provide for women when they

become victims of domestic abuse.

There are concerns in the sector

about how those will be funded and

there is a consultation on going but

we will not oversee a reduction in

beds. We are looking for the most

efficient, effective way of

delivering that support and nothing

is off the table.

I think probably

we were all shocked across this

House when we heard of the reports

of sexual harassment and abuse in

the aid sector. When we are looking

at what happens to women

internationally, it's very important

that we hold our charitable

organisations and charities feet to

the fire in tackling the abuse that

is being reported. How does she

propose that we can ensure and

trustees organisations to deal with

the allegations of sexual

exploitation in the aid sector?

My

honourable friend will have heard

the member for Portsmouth in her

conviction and determination to make

sure that she holds the charitable

sectors feet to the fire. It is a

wholly unacceptable that anybody

going out for a charity should take

any advantage from vulnerable girls

and women in the sector. I am

confident in my honourable friend

for Portsmouth's activity in this

area. The second area I wanted to

discuss his money. A truly equal

society is also one where women and

men are equally economically

empowered. Globally, women are less,

have fewer assets and do 60 to 80%

of unpaid domestic work. One in ten

money women in developing countries

are not consulted by their husbands

on how their incomes are spent and

in the UK, we are enjoying record

female employment but we are also

facing a national gender pay gap of

80%. -- 18%. We might have equality

in the workplace but paycheques are

telling a different story. That's

why the Government hasn't a just

world leading legislation.

Does she

not agree that this is not a matter

of social equality but also for

economic equality, bearing in mind

that the estimate this week, if we

close the gender pay gap, it would

mean an extra £90 billion going into

the income of women and that is a

staggering figure will reflect on

what that means for how women are

being kept putter as a result of the

pay gap -- get poorer.

It is not

about the individual women and

individual family, it is also about

the country as a whole. If we can

raise pay anyway that is there,

it'll be good for the economy of the

country so that is why we have

introduced a world leading

legislation requiring organisations

with over 250 employees to publish

their gender pay gap by the end of

this tax year and I want businesses

to have their pay gaps laid bare and

then to do something about it.

She

will have read in the press some

speculation that organisations may

be flouting the gender pay gap

reporting regulations that this

Government has rightly brought in.

Could she outline to the House what

action the Government will be taking

to make sure that businesses to take

this very seriously indeed?

I thank

my honourable friend who has done

such important work in this area.

She will know that it was a

manifesto commitment to bring this

foreword. It is the law and we will

be making sure that companies do

stick to it. They abide by it and

deliver it and then hopefully they

will make changes on it. Equality is

not just about getting women the

same pay as men, it's about getting

women the same jobs as men too. I

have lost track of the number of

meetings I have sat in with I am the

only woman at the table. I expect I

am not the only one. Women are still

underrepresented in a range of

fields from politics to business and

particularly at the top. We have

made good progress since 2010 and

have eliminated all male boards in

the FTSE 100 but only a quarter of

directorships and CEOs are women and

this is not good enough. It is bad

economics, too. We know that

organisations with the highest

levels of gender diversity in the

leadership teams are 15% more likely

to outperform their industry rivals

so we must think long and hard about

what we need to do to improve these

statistics. I am pleased to

support... I give way.

I thank the

Secretary of State for allowing me

to intervene and I endorse what she

says about being the only woman in

meetings. That still does happen.

But when she agree that women women

may reach those senior levels in

business that they must be paid

equally to men and sadly today,

there are still a lot of women doing

the same work of equal value and not

achieving equal pay?

The honourable

lady is absolutely right, they must

be paid the same as men. It has been

a legal for equal work not to be

equally pay for many years but we

are trying to take that one step

further. Honourable members will

know that there has been reporting

substantial companies in banking, in

media, which has shown the scale the

gender pay gap and the managing

directors, the senior directors, are

having to take action as a result of

it which is very welcome. The target

to achieve 33% of women on board and

an executive committees has been

achieved by some companies. Women

deserve to get to the top of all

professions and is filed their

aspirations take them. I would like

to end by quoting Emmeline Pankhurst

who famously said that the

suffragettes had to make more noise

than anybody else for their cause to

be heard and to enact the change

that they wanted. Man or women, we

must continue the legacy of the

suffragettes, suffragists and their

supporters. We must all make enough

noise. The agenda must be continued.

This is an important debate and I

urge everyone here to continue to

press for progress as the

International Women's Day slogan

suggests, to finally achieve the two

gender equality women have been

fighting for for so long. -- true

gender equality.

The question is

that this House has considered, Ford

100 and International Women's Day.

Shadow Minister for women and

equality is.

I am so pleased we are making time

available today to continue this

important tradition of marking

International Women's Day. I would

like to thank Mr Speaker. He has

made history, helped me to raise the

International Women's Day's flag

over parliament buildings for the

first time in this history, and to

that, I would like to salute this to

speak. International Women's Day

this year has been a roller-coaster

of emotions for me. Reading about

the struggle that has to some women

gaining the vote to vote in a

general election 100 years ago, it

highlighted just how far we have

come, but also, just how far we

still have to go. It also led me to

reflect on the persistent

inequalities relating to class and

ethnicity, as well as gender.

Working-class men had been denied

the vote until 1918 and it paved the

way for working-class women, there

in franchising. Our demand for

equality goes beyond the vote, vital

though it is, of course. We are

interested in the advancement on a

broad front and we cannot ignore the

fact that class and race often go

hand in hand in the struggle for

equality. There is little doubt that

2018 is turning out to be a landmark

year for women. The decades of

campaigning that led to women's

suffrage a year ago highlights what

women can achieve when we unite and

organise. Madam Deputy Speaker, if

all women were granted the vote in

1918, we woman would have been the

majority. It took another ten years

before full equality for women was

enshrined in the representation of

people open franchise act 1928. As I

said, that legislation was the

result of decades of struggle by

famous and not so famous people. I

remember hearing a saying, if you

hold the pen, you write the history.

It is hard to understand until you

start reading bits of history and

you realise there are bits missing.

My team today is taken from the

writer Virginia Woolf, she said, for

most of history, anonymous was a

woman -- my theme today. On the

march on Sunday, I was asked who I

was marching for, I said I was

marching for the hidden history of

women, for the women whose

campaigning zeal did not make them

famous and indeed for women who

suffered and still suffer in

silence. The role of women of colour

in the suffragette movement has

often been overlooked. I am so

grateful to the Commons library for

unearthing the case of Sarah Parker

Redmond, the only known woman of

colour to have signed the first

petition for women's suffrage in

1866. She was a prominent

African-American lecturer,

abolitionist and agent of the

African American anti-slavery

society. Sarah was an educated,

independent woman of wealth, why

would she be hidden from the history

of the suffragettes movement? There

can only be one answer. The colour

of her skin. Today, Madam Deputy

Speaker, I would like to salute

Sarah Parker Redmond in Parliament

so that her name will live in

perpetuity in Hansard. Thank you.

Better known woman of colour and

suffragette is a princess who is

rightly celebrated, although she was

born after the original suffrage

petition, and she campaigned for the

women nationally and locally and has

been the subject of a BBC

documentary and a Royal Mail stamped

and I treasure the photo of me with

a poster sized version of that

stamp, a small one would not be very

good, would it? I treasure that

photograph. For the vast majority of

black, Asian and minority ethnic

women, their part in the suffrage

movement has been lost. The hidden

history that might never be told. I

am proud of the opposition's 50-50

Shadow Cabinet and I am truly proud

that 45% of Labour MPs are women,

one more heave and we will have

parity, all we need, maybe, is a

general election in the next couple

of months. It is also notable that

across the House there is a record

high of women in thes, 32%. We

welcome women and people are from

all parties in this place -- record

high of women MPs. If we could,

Madam Deputy Speaker, I would say we

should give ourselves a round of

applause, but not too loudly, we

still have persistent problems that

will not go away unless we take a

radical approach. We should applaud

the Conservatives for electing a

woman leader... Twice, the member

says. While noting that for eight

years, she has sat around a Cabinet

table that sanctioned £80 billion of

tax and benefit changes with more

than 86% of cuts falling on the

shoulders of women. So, I say, a

round of applause, but not too

loudly. Let me offer a cautionary

tale... I give way.

I am very

grateful. Can I congratulate her on

her speech so far and away she is

reflecting International Women's

Day? Would she join with me in

recognising that the 66 years we

have had a female head of state and

sent congratulations to Her Majesty

the Queen who has presided so well

over this country through smooth

times and rough times?

I thank the

honourable member for that

intervention and absolutely I will

congratulate the Queen for the

dignity and poise she has held her

position with over the years and I

do hope that we might see the new

generation coming in and taking that

place in the future. So, and long

may she reigned, absolutely. We do

not want to see the end, but I

understand she is scaling back her

duties, to make way for the next

generation. I am in no way

advocating her demise so quickly.

LAUGHTER

Let me offer a cautionary tale,

Madam Deputy Speaker. From 100 years

ago, just as women were getting the

vote, male misogyny struck a blow at

women's sport. Teams of women were

playing football, women's football,

in front of large crowds and they

were making big money. But the

football Association, they banned

women from their grounds. The FA

said, I quote, the game of football,

probably said it a bit more like

this... The game of football is

quite unsuitable for females and

ought not to be encouraged. At a

stroke, DFA destroyed women's

football at that time. -- DFA. If

Eniola Aluko is watching, she is

probably thinking, not much has

changed. But women football players

have been making up for lost time.

Sadly the England team lost narrowly

to the world champions, the US, last

night, but I wish them well on their

continued journey and I would like

to acknowledge the first

international women's football star

in the 1981 World Championship, the

winner of the Golden Boot and she

even appeared on a cereal box. I

will give way.

I just wanted to

highlight in the world of women's

football, the work Lewes football

club do, the first in the country to

give equal pay to the men and

women's teams.

Excellent news,

hopefully we will see that reflected

nationally as well, as we encourage

the game of women's football. I

would also like to note a

goalkeeper, the first black woman to

be elected in the US fall -- the US

hall of fame. As women, we know we

have to break down structural

barriers, but sometimes we forget

just how deep roots of the

structural barriers are, we have to

break down centuries-old traditions

to get into places like here, in

Parliament, that were designed to

keep us out. Today too many groups

still face discrimination and

disadvantage. We must look forward

and tackled the structural barriers

facing all women and those with

protected characteristics so we can

achieve true equality for all. The

official theme of International

Women's Day is pressed for progress.

I want to set up Labour's priorities

and what they are, where we need

change at his most pressing there is

a long list including tackling

violence against women and girls,

domestic violence and abuse in the

workplace, and of course, tackling

the enduring gender pay gap. In the

UK, I am proud of the role Labour

has played in ensuring progress by

breaking down structural barriers

that have long held women back.

Labour brought in the Equal Pay Act,

the six discrimination act, the

Equality Act, the minimum wage and

introduced sure start -- sex

discrimination act. They doubled

maternity pay. Now Mr Speaker, Madam

Deputy Speaker, Labour believe we

will only make a real difference in

closing the gender pay gap with a

combination of sticks and carrots,

we will mandate companies with over

255 employees to produce action

plans to close the gender pay gap,

companies will be accredited due to

their progress and issued with

certification, only companies with

certification would be able to bid

for lucrative government contracts.

A win- win situation. The right

thing to do. The workforce would be

loyal, make more profit, as the

Secretary of State mentioned

earlier, and they will be rewarded

for good practice. And we will

benefit as a country. According to a

study by Price water Cooper, the

gender of the -- the closure of the

gender pay gap would give a boost to

the UK, globally to boost would be

trillions of dollars. In the

developing world, it is widely

recognised that empowering women is

an important step in driving

economic growth. It should be part

of our sustainable development

goals. Between 2015 and 2016, the UK

fell from 14th to 15th place in a

ranking of 33 OECD countries based

on five key indicators of female

economic empowerment. Madam Deputy

Speaker, our country deserves

better. Our country needs a Labour

government and our policies to put

people in progress at the heart. I

give way.

Incredibly generous with

her time. I hear with interest the

proposals the Labour Party have on

the table and I'm wondering, does

she see a time there will be a

female leader of the Labour Party

and if not, why that has not

happened so far?

I thank the member

for her intervention. This policy,

whether introduced by a male or

female is an important policy in

addressing the inequality of pay

towards women and ensuring this

gender pay gap is not just audited

but is closed. That is the important

factor. The near parity between

women and men in the Parliamentary

Labour Party has not come about by

chance. The introduction of all

women short lists has promoted a

change of culture. When the election

was called at short notice and we

had no time for all women short

lists, we still selected and elected

more women than any other party. The

test of any party is whether you are

helping or hindering. I am afraid

many of the current government

policies failed that test and the

Labour Party is determined that we

will be a help, not a hindrance to

women. I have not got time to go

into all the elements of our key

policy strands but it is an acronym,

a help. Access to justice, health

and well-being, economic equality,

leadership and representation and

protections for women. With this, we

will see real transformation. Women

make up 51% of the population and

without that 51%, the other 49%

would not be here. Let this be the

year that change happens. I will not

wait another 110 years for real

equality.

Thank you. This is the

first time in many years that the

International Women's Day debate has

been held on government time and I

would like to thank those on the

front bench who make that happen and

we know who they are, and I hope

that this is a trend for things to

come in the future as well. It is a

very special day indeed today,

International Women's Day in the

year that we celebrate 100 years

since women first won the right to

vote, but also first won the right

to stand for election to this place.

It has also been for a long time a

day of celebration in my household.

It is also my youngest son's

birthday today, and other members on

the front bench have children also

born on International Women's Day. I

think this is really a day when men

and women can come together and

should come together to celebrate,

whether for their children or other

reasons.

A quality affect us all.

Persistent

inequalities disadvantages as all.

-- us all. The work of the committee

is to look at all strands of

equality but we have a particular

interest in women's equality but we

are not frightened to look at the

issues that face men, too, and the

latest inquiry we have been doing is

into dads in the workplace. I thank

all of my honourable friends who are

here today, for Gower and Birmingham

Yardley and others who sit on the

committee, to their work into the

inquiry and just to say that we will

be publishing the final report on

that in the next two weeks. I think

that the Government has, in the

outline from the Home Secretary

today, Sean and their huge

commitment to gender equality in

this country but also abroad and I

think the announcement today shows

that the tough new laws on domestic

abuse that are being proposed

indicate that that commitment is

showing no sign of diminishing. But

the record of the Government I think

does need to be put on record

because it is so striking, the

criminalisation of forced marriage,

new stalking laws, the roll-out of

violence protection orders, new

offences on domestic abuse relating

to control, shared parentage, equal

marriage, making revenge pornography

a crying, making sex and

relationship education compulsory

for children, all of these things

sure that this is a Government that

understands the very white nature of

the policies that they need to put

in place to address equality issues

for women -- the very white nature

-- wide nature. The role of the

equality select committee that a

chair is that we continue to hold

the Government's feed to the fire on

not just existing legislative work

but also that for the future -- feet

to the fire, and I wanted to areas

of work we have done on the

committee that I think require

further work in future. Maternity

discrimination is something which

still blights this country. Despite

some of the strongest laws to outlaw

maternity discrimination, it

continues to blight the lives of too

many women. The use of nondisclosure

agreements in agreements put forward

to encourage women to leave the

workplace means that it is difficult

for us to see the skill of the

problem at its fullest and that's

why in the work of the committee, we

will be looking carefully at how we

should reform nondisclosure

agreements, not just on issues of

sexual harassment but issues like

maternity discrimination. Another

area which I am sure the select

committee will want to continue to

scrutinise is the role of women. We

did a very important report shortly

before the last general election is

calling for the implementation of

aspects of the equality act to make

it transparent how many women are

standing for election in various

points of the Parliamentary

calendar. It was disappointing that

the Government didn't agree to go

forward with that part of the

equality act, which would require

all political parties to be

transparent about their data and

gender specific candidates and I

hope I can encourage those sitting

on the front bench today to continue

to look at how we may be able to use

that existing legislation to throw

transparency onto this issue because

as our previous leader David Cameron

said, sunlight is the best

disinfectant and I think that is

still the same today, particularly

when it comes to the work of parties

and the selection of the candidates

and well stunned the Labour benches

they may have more women sitting

than we do on these benches, I'm

sure they would agree with us that

it is the selection procedure that

can really stand in the way of women

coming into this place. We need to

make sure there is transparency with

regards to the data.

Pharisee to my

honourable friend that I praise the

work she does -- can I say to my

honourable friend. Both parties have

something to contribute. Would she

agree with me that we must put

forward a very positive view of

women's role in this House because

the most important thing is to

encourage young women to look at

this as a potential career and if we

are always complaining and pointing

out the downside of this job, that

is not going to be encouraging so

can I encourage the select committee

to look at positives so that young

women know that this could be a job

for them and is one of the most

fantastic jobs we could ever

possibly do?

My honourable friend

makes an excellent point and I would

say for her at the best thing we're

doing at the moment to encourage

young women to be interested in

politics is having a female Prime

Minister. Certainly for me, when I

saw Margaret Thatcher become Prime

Minister and leader of the party and

leader of the country, it may

politics relevant for me, it turned

politics from being old men in grey

raincoats into something which was a

Technicolor, relevant issue for me

to be involved in as a 14-year-old

girl living in South Wales where

they weren't too many Tories around.

I could see an amazing role model on

the television, not only being a

fantastic female politician, but

also turning our country round from

what was a crisis of the '70s.

I

thank the Honourable Lady forgiving

way as they wanted to share a

slightly different story and ask if

she will agree with me on the value

of teachers and the role they play

in encouraging young girls coming

forward. The story I haven't

orphaned shared -- a story I haven't

often shared is we got home at

school one day and we were asked to

work ourselves up about something

and I managed to work myself up

about Margaret Thatcher. The rest is

history but I want to acknowledge

the work done by teachers in schools

in my constituency, where they will

be holding International Women's Day

events today and tomorrow and the

impact that has on bringing the

feeling of being involved in

political debate and the importance

of those initiatives.

The honourable

lady is absolutely right, it is

inspiring people to get involved in

politics which is such an important

part of our job as well. I want to

talk about inspiring women at this

point. I might have been the first

women to be elected to Parliament in

north Hampshire but I am now joined

by five other female Conservative

Members of Parliament in Hampshire

including my honourable friend the

member for Eastleigh on the front

bench today. Where one women trends,

other will follow -- where one woman

treads. I am pleased to have 60% of

my borough councillors as female. I

think it is important that we

recognise that as Members of

Parliament, we can inspire others to

become involved in politics through

the work that we do.

I thank my

honourable friend forgiving way. On

the point of inspiring women, does

she agree with me that as Members of

Parliament, we get into our schools

and speak to young women and show

them that being an MP is the kind of

job they should be aspiring to, as

well as being the leader of a

company. As a male MP with two

female bosses, I know that women are

as good at the job if not better.

Old-fashioned people might say a

woman's place is in the House, but

it could also be on the front bench.

Years absolutely right that we need

to make sure we recognise the

importance of encouraging more young

women into politics.

I thank the

honourable member forgiving way. It

was on a very similar point. It is

important we take responsibility for

inspiring young women but we should

also remember that many of us were

inspired by our mothers and their

mothers. My grandmother didn't have

the right to vote and I were her

wedding ring to this chamber every

day and it serves as a reminder for

the older generations past.

The

honourable lady makes such a

poignant point in the debate and

ensure we will reflect on the roles

of women in our own families in

terms of getting us here today.

There are also other women in our

communities who we need to

celebrate. We are incredibly

privileged in Hampshire to be one of

only four Chief constables in the

country who is doing an incredible

job of running one of the largest

police forces in the country. My

local executive in the hospital and

Basingstoke Alex Whitfield who

succeeded another female executive

to make sure we have some of the

best health services in the area.

The honourable member is right to

point out the need to have more

women in senior policing positions

and the need to encourage more women

police officers to rise up through

the ranks, but would she also join

with me in paying tribute to the

women met Commissioner, the woman

head of the National police chief

council and the woman head of the

National crime agency, Cressida Dick

and Sarah Thornton in top positions

is a huge tribute to them and the

work they have done to rise to the

profession.

Coupled with a female

Home Secretary, they make a

formidable team! Canales appointed

the role of women in business? I

represent one of the top ten centres

of business in the South East and it

is women running small businesses I

find inspiring. A woman in my

constituency runs a business to

support other businesses. When I

look at local charities, it is not

just women running existing

charities, people like Evelyn

Vincent, a founder member of Headway

Basingstoke, but women setting up

new charities like Charlie Porter

who set up a charity to support

disabled children. People like me is

one in my constituency, who is the

artistic director of my local

theatre company and it doesn't stop

there -- Mary Swann. If it wasn't

without women, I don't know what the

Church of England would be doing

because women keep our church is

running. We were talking about

football teams. Basingstoke town

playing in the FA Premier League

women's division and I am proud of

the fact they are doing extremely

well, in fact, better than the men's

team.

In my own constituency, I'm

going to see Sally Preston tomorrow

who runs a company that she started

from scratch and is producing

fantastically healthy children's

food and is now a multi-million

pound business, internationally.

By

recognising women who are doing

things in other roles and other

walks of life, then we can also help

to make sure that young women in our

schools can be realised that the

only thing that limits them in this

world is that imagination and the

support that they get from families

and schools to realise their

ambitions. Madam Deputy Speaker, in

talking about women in my

constituency, I could not feel to

refer to the most famous daughter of

Basingstoke -- I could not fail.

Jane Austen. Until recently, almost

nobody knew that she was born and

bred in our borough, the most famous

novelist in the world and we had

failed to recognise her. I don't

know whether that was because she

was a woman or that people didn't

wait reading her books. I love them,

some people don't, it's an acquired

taste. I was immensely proud at that

time we celebrated 200 years of her

death that we could be part of a

programme to make sure she was

better remembered which led to the

first of sculptural Jane Austen

being put in place in the centre of

my town -- sculpture of Jane Austen.

I would like to thank Adam, the

sculptor, but also Amanda, who made

the project possible because I want

to celebrate women now but also the

women who have made my town a great

place to live. Women in Basingstoke

are no different to other women in

the country, they have prodigious

talent so why are we still in a

situation where women are paid less

than men? In my constituency, 25%

less than men. We are in the bottom

4% of the UK. Despite the fact there

is no difference in levels of

education of men and women in my

constituency, women are being paid

consistently 25% less than men

because they can't find the sort of

jobs that they need to use their

experience and talent. Organisations

are working hard to try and reverse

this worrying trend where we are not

using the skills of our people in

the way that we should all stop our

local Borough Council has focused on

this and now has a positive gender

pay gap of 2.1% -- 2.16%. Local

employers have programmes to

increase female apprentices and have

targets to increase female

management. Jujitsu have a programme

to attract female apprentices, so

companies are waking up and

recognising that they are not using

female talent in the way they should

-- Fujitsu. I am supportive of the

work the Government is doing on

gender pay gap reporting because it

will provide a sort of transparency

that companies in my constituency

need to focus on this problem more

and with around 900 businesses and

Basingstoke that have more than 250

employees, that gender pay gap

reporting will be something I am

going to be looking at very closely

to ensure that we capitalise on the

skills and talents of women because

of the moment, that is a loss to the

economy.

I would like ministers to reflect on

the issue of flexibility working and

its availability. I was very pleased

to see the Prime Minister

particularly point out the need for

flexible working to be available

right at the start of someone's time

in employment because at the moment

research has shown that just 6% of

job vacancies pay the annualised

equivalent of £20,000 a year or more

leaving many women with no option

other than to take on low-paid,

often poorly paid jobs, with little

progression, if they need to have

the sort of flexibility that many do

to balance work and family life. I

hope that the Prime Minister's

announcement of last year around

flexible working is just the start

of a much broader set of work to

Government is doing to make flexible

working a reality for everybody in

this country and to have that from

day one. Is this a turning point? I

have heard that mentioned earlier

on. Is it a landmark year? I'm sure

people around the First World War

and Second World War, in the 60s and

70s, when so much of the legislation

we enjoy today was put in place, I

am sure they also felt they were

landmark years. The reason why we

might better say this is going to be

a landmark year following all of the

revelations we have had regarding

sexual harassment in Hollywood and

Westminster, that is because we have

record numbers of women in work and

economic empowerment is such an

important part of cementing the

changed attitudes that we are all

looking for in the debate today. I

also hope that the establishment of

the Women and Equalities Select

Committee has helped keep equality

issues, particularly those relating

to women, at the top of the agenda.

I hope that has added to the

momentum for change. We started our

series of sexual harassment reports

in 2016 with sexual harassment to

schoolgirls and I was told at the

time that we were expecting children

to accept something that had been

outlawed in the workplace. How wrong

were we about that. Sexual

harassment is something that blight

the lives of 50% of women in this

country and we have to tackle it and

I am pleased the committee is doing

two reports on that at the moment,

sexual harassment in the public

realm and at work. There really is

more that unites us than divides us

when we come to issues of women and

I think that the women and men

sitting in this House today taking

part in this debate can make sure

that if we do work together we make

sure this turning point does create

the lasting change we want to see.

Thank you. It is a pleasure to

follow the right honourable member

for Basingstoke who is of course the

chair of the Women and Equalities

Select Committee I have had the

honour of serving on for almost

three years now. The first of its

kind. It is a great honour that

today we get the whole afternoon to

debate the subject of International

Women's Day, and it is also an

honour to follow the honourable

member putting on record there are

many women who are not recognised in

history and I am grateful that will

be corrected today. As we mark 100

years since winning first secured

the vote in this place on

International Women's Day, we have

an opportunity to put on record some

of the great successes and also to

not forget the reason why we still

have to have something such as

International Women's Day because we

have had to fight this long and we

still have a long way to go. Today,

as we mark the progress made by

women on the centenary of women's

suffrage, we must note this year's

theme is press for progress. In the

last 100 years, we have seen

incremental advances in women's

rights. In 1928, women were granted

universal suffrage, 1945, family

allowances act introduced Child

benefit, 1967, the abortion act was

enacted in the UK, however the

system not extended in Northern

Ireland. In 1975, the Sextus

Coronation act was introduced making

it illegal to discover later against

women and yet... -- the six

discrimination act. The provision of

FGM, it was made a crime. Statutory

maternity play was introduced. Rape

in marriage was made a crime in

1984. In 2014, shared parental leave

was introduced and it also marked

the passage of equal marriage.

Coercive control became a crime. In

2017, thanks to the former

honourable member, we witnessed the

ratification of the Istanbul

convention and I thank former and

present Home Secretary for their

work in that regard. This year, the

Government will introduce the bill

on domestic violence and abuse and

yet this year on average 40% of

women will report they have

experienced some form of sexual

harassment in the workplace. In

Scotland, 50,810 incidents of

domestic abuse were reported last

year. Rape and attempted rape

accounted for 17% of sexual crimes.

And 35% of women have experienced by

the physical or sexual, intimate,

partner violence or sexual violence

by a non-partner at some point. 200

million women and girls will have

undergone female genital Meech

elation and the majority of them

were cut before they were five. --

female genital mutilation. One in

five LGBT women have said they

experienced hate crime because of

that gender identity and one in four

have not reported it to the police.

While we recognise there is still a

long way to go, today is an

opportunity to celebrate that women

have achieved a great deal in the

last 100 years. I want to turn

around the rather bleak view I have

just presented and celebrate some of

what Sky News published recently as

Britain's most influential women,

mocking those who have made

achievements historically and those

of today. Suffragettes, of who we

owe a debt to, Emmeline Pankhurst,

Emily Davies, great writers such as

Virginia Woolf and Zadie Smith, and

women in the public eye who rightly

use their voice to advocate

political activism such as Annie

Lennox, Vivienne Westwood, MIA. And

it includes my own First Minister,

Nicola Sturgeon. And my colleague

and friend, the honourable member

for Paisley. She gave a brilliant

speech yesterday on misogyny and

need to be met by further online

abuse which kind of proves the point

exactly. I should also say she got

some support. But the point is well

made. While we recognise these

extraordinary women and acknowledge

the struggles they face in trying to

make the world a better place, it is

worth recognising the extraordinary

women who live otherwise

extraordinary lives -- the ordinary

women. I wish to pay tribute to some

of the truly inspiring women in my

own constituency, I want to pay

tribute to Carol Clark, Cristina

Albert, and others, passionate in

promoting fair trade in Hamilton. I

want to play due to Donna Bannerman

who established a cafe supporting

mental health and I also want to pay

tribute to every one of the members

of Women's Aid who do fantastic

work. I want to take this

opportunity to put on record as

always the plight of my own

constituents who continue to fight

for fair pension rights. They still

feel their voices are largely

unheard. The ring Swan, playing a

key role in keeping the traditions

of Lanark alive -- Lorraine Swan.

Sheena Campbell, chair of the

council who fights to make our

community a better place. And a

pioneering businesswoman who

recently was short listed for the

black beauty and fashion awards

2018. These women are all

exceptional and that is not with

outstanding women like Pauline

Sullivan and Margaret McAllister,

these women are administrators,

teachers and kitchen staff who have

worked hard on their entire adult

life supporting families, caring for

children and ageing parents while

fighting fair pension justice and

equality and fighting for equal pay.

They deserve their voices to be

heard just as much as every other

woman on that Sky list. The recent

times that movement against sexual

harassment and the scandal in this

place and the established patriarch

eat only serves to highlight that

women in all sectors experience

patriarch you, misogyny and bullying

in the know workplace everyday. But

not all of these women have a voice.

We have a long way to go and I think

there is an opportunity in this

place to really make a change so let

us see the next 100 years make a

real change. In closing the gender

pay gap, tackling maternity and

pregnancy discrimination,

encouraging more fathers to take

their share of parental leave, we

need to continue to tackle the

systemic inequalities in

institutions like this place and

lead by example to create the change

we want to see. Today launched a

petition calling on the Government

to scrap the 4% tax on claimants

child maintenance, for those who

have expressed domestic violence in

their relationship, they rely on

this vital service. Parents should

not be penalised for protecting

their families and the Government

should not seek to balance the books

on the most vulnerable. I am calling

once more in the Government to

please consider using this

opportunity was bringing forward the

domestic violence and abuse built to

address this inequity, it is not

fair to ask women to pay a tax for

the service that they ultimately

rely on and have no other choice. I

wanted to end with a quote from the

truly inspirational woman and that

is Maya Angelou, each time a woman

stands up for herself without

knowing it possibly, without

claiming it, she stands up for all

women. Let us make our voices heard

this afternoon, it is International

Women's Day, and all of those

women's voices deserve to be heard.

Thank you. It is a real privilege to

be able to contribute to what I

think is a hugely important debate

in Parliament today. I believe that

gender inequality represents the

biggest waste of talent occurring on

our planet right now. I think that

closing that gap is not only a moral

imperative, it is also an economic

imperative for us all as well. I

think the figures on gender

inequality are absolutely striking.

If you look at evidence produced by

McKinsey in 2015, they estimated

that gender inequality and achieving

gender parity across the global

economy is worth $28 trillion to

global GDP. Just to put that in

context, it is essentially the

economies of China and the US

combined. This is probably the

biggest economic lever that we could

see pulled to support jobs and

prosperity in our global economy

that is out there. I am really proud

of the work the UK has done

internationally I think following

the sustainable development goals

agreed back in 2015, for the first

time, really, in the world, we have

a list that is he to do list to

achieve gender equality and it is

not only a long list, it is

comprehensive, covering specifically

areas like FGM, health inequality,

it also is mainstream through the

whole of the sustainable development

goals which is vital to see real

change. When we look at the impact

gender equality can have on

countries around the world, it is

absolutely stark. The impact goes so

far as to be positive for not only

economic performance, but underlying

stability, outcomes in relation to

society more generally, gender

equality is a good, positive thing

that all countries should be

striving for, not because it is a

nice thing to do, but because it is

absolutely crucial for all of us.

Some of the most inspiring people I

met in my time I had an

international development were

amazing women fighting for women's

rights in places like Afghanistan,

fight here against child marriage in

places like Sam Beard, tackling

Ebola, nurses on the front line

giving their lives, frankly, to save

the people, they were absolutely

inspiring. I think achieving gender

equality is a shared responsibility,

but if it is a shared

responsibility, that means we have

to take a collective action. All of

us, not just as people, but in the

organisations and institutions we

are part of. I just briefly wanted

to talk about what I think that

collective action really means. I

think firstly it means working in

our communities, we cannot think of

amazing groups working in our

community is leading the way. Again

I would point to some of the young

people I have come across in my time

in politics, girls in who set up an

organisation which has not just

shaken up that city but has drawn

attention much more broadly across

our country to tackling FGM.

Wonderful work by long-standing

institutions like the girl guides,

fantastic charities in international

development like Restless

Development, I want to thank

teachers around our country in our

classrooms right now who are

inspiring and educating a brand-new

generation of girls and young women

to aim higher, to have higher

expectations, for themselves, but

also to have a sense of how they

need and should deserve to be

treated by others, what

relationships and stable

relationships actually look like. I

think the reforms we are bringing

through on relationships and such

sex education are longer than the

Duke and they are crucial to making

sure it is not just an issue of

women aiming high but men and boys

understand the role they can

positively play in helping to

deliver gender equality in our

country -- sex education are long

overdue. The work happening in the

classrooms and encouraging girls to

go into STEM industries is really

important if we want to crack the

statistics we talk about like the

gender pay gap.

That brings me onto the world of

business and how important it is to

see the continued change in the from

employers that have steadily -- that

has steadily began happening in our

country over recent years and

members have mentioned the gender

pay gap. The transparency that those

regulations, simple as they were,

have brought to pay gap meetings is

hugely powerful and I think we

should recognise we are at the

beginning of a journey. I know when

I was talking to many companies who

were looking at the reporting that

was a head of them -- ahead of them,

many wanted to make progress in

their companies in terms of

reporting statistics, purely simply

having them focused on numbers for

the first time told them what they

needed to know, which is that they

needed to make a change and I will

say to any company, there are

literally at about four weeks left,

three to four weeks for companies in

our country who are eligible to have

to make the gender pay gap reporting

submissions. My advice to them is

don't be late! People will spot who

is missing and if you're missing, he

will never be able to go back and

correct the fact that you had a year

to get your house in order, if you

had a year to make sure your

reporting was on time and you

failed. All employees and companies

need to understand that young people

growing up in the UK have different

expectations and attitudes in

relation to gender and culture and

diversity, and they expect those

attitudes and those values to be

also shown in the organisations that

they interact with on a daily basis

and in particular those

organisations that want to sell them

goods and services and I think the

sooner that in many respects

businesses understand that and see

the opportunities to respond to

that, the better for broader

society. My honourable friend for

Basingstoke mentioned the broader

workplace reforms that all

governments, but including this one,

have brought forward to make

flexible working a reality. If we're

really going to see that make a

difference, we to go beyond ANSI

attitudes -- ANSI attitudes change.

We also what happened at the

Presidents club dinner but I think

it is symptomatic that change is to

be led from the top -- we need to go

beyond and see attitudes change. All

employees need to -- all employers

need to show leadership and see that

driven through the senior management

teams and evidence not just through

their people but through their

processes and the systems and data

that they are collecting to ensure

that they are moving in the right

direction.

Would she on that point

welcome and give credit to northern

Power women who have this week been

winning awards for the great change

that they have been making in

driving forward as agents of change

to transform the organisation, so

they are role models and have been

winning awards this week in

Manchester for doing just that.

I

would very much like to welcome all

the work they're doing. I hope the

awards ceremony incredibly well. It

is down to all of us. It is a 1

million piece jigsaw at achieving

gender equality, it is millions of

people around our world and in our

country doing things that add up to

something big. Don't wait is my

advice to people who want to see

things change, get involved and be

part of the change yourself. Just

finishing on businesses, we know

that this is good for business so

when you look at the research,

companies that own the top quartile

for gender diversity on executive

teams were 21% more likely to

outperform on profitability. They

were 27% more likely to have

superior value creation. They are in

the top quartile for cultural and

ethnic diversity were 33% more

likely to have industry-leading

profitability and further, there is

a penalty for dropping out so in

other words, companies that are not

doing this are poorer performing.

It's not that companies that do it

better performing. The clearest deal

is that if you cared about your

business and growth, do it for the

economics. If you have for some

obscure reason have not bought into

why this is the right thing to do.

This applies to Parliament, to our

institution, all of the things that

we talk about about being good for

businesses and employers. I know

that everyone in this chamber feels

exactly as strongly as I do about

this and many colleagues of course

who aren't here. It is up to us to

continue to ask yourself the

difficult questions about how our

own parties need to change. I agree

with my honourable friend, the

member for Basingstoke. I think

transparency is absolutely crucial.

I think the Conservative Party

should leave no stone unturned to

continue to play a role and indeed

go for a stronger role in making

sure that we are one of those

parties in this House that is

helping to make sure we have a 50-50

Parliament and we should be out

there making sure we are working

with other parliamentarians on the

50-50 campaign of #askhertostand. It

is 100 years since some women got

the vote, and although we have made

lots of progress, it has not been

enough. Unless we work together,

there is a real danger that we both

flat line -- we will flat line on

about a third of us being women

parliamentarians and we need to go

above and beyond that. I would also

say that beyond all of my comments

today, for what it's worth, I think

we should never lose sight of the

culture and diversity element. There

are too many women growing up in our

country, BME women who face a double

challenge of making their way in our

country and none of us should be

prepared to accept that and I think

whenever we're talking about gender

inequality, we should explicitly be

clear that there are groups of women

in our country who face even greater

challenges, dare I say, than some of

the rest of us and fixing this for

every single woman is our challenge

and we should not stop until we have

achieved that. I will finalise by

saying that it is 100 years since we

got the vote in this country. The

suffragette movement actually began

back in the 1860s. I am so pleased

they didn't give up after 40 years.

If there is one thing we can all

take from this, is that this is

long-term, but it'll wanted to be

long-term. I won't change to happen

faster I don't want to be looking at

what we can achieve over the next

100 years, I want us to be looking

at what we can achieve in the

generation, in the next five years,

ten years, 15 years. We need to do

that because lives are ticking by

and I had attacked me too many girls

into many countries without

opportunity but with bags of talent

-- I had the chats to meet too many

girls -- I had the chance. It is a

deal of opportunity lost and a deal

talent wasted. -- day of

opportunity. I don't accept our

world needs to be like this. I don't

accept that our country needs to be

like this. We have made lots of

progress but we have to go further

and faster and I am really proud

that all of us can be a strong voice

for women not just in our country

but around the world to articulate

often the challenges that they face

when they have no way of talking

about them themselves. We now over

recent years that over the last

century, things can be different but

we also know that we have to choose

to make them different and I think

if nothing else today, this debate

is showing that as far as the UK

Parliament is concerned we are

making that choice for things to be

different and all I can say is that

I am going to be part of that change

and I am going to be part of the

effort to see the next 100 years

deliver much, much more than last

100 years. Thank you.

I write today to keep my promise

every year to remember the women

killed by domestic violence. I

ordered a search -- I hope this

research to researchers involved

with the femicide census. After

this, I will be told that I don't

care about men who died, which is

ridiculous. I am grateful that Karen

Smith ignores this and remains on

the side of the women who died, not

the forces who want to ignore it.

All of these stories are in the

public domain. The women are all

ages and were killed in violent

episodes at the hands of men.

Violence against women and girls is

an epidemic. If as many people die

every week at a sporting event or

because they had a specific job,

they would be national outcry. These

women deserve the same. We must all

do better to hear their stories and

to end the culture of male violence

that killed them. Their names are

Anne-Marie James, Sabrina Mullins,

Sheila Morgan, Tracy Wilkinson,

Cantwell Williams, Vicky Hull,

Hannah Blaydon, Caroline Hill,

Katrina ever may, Megan Bells,

Catalina Chile, Jane Sheikh, Tracy

Kerins, conceptus Leonard, Jenna

Leeming,

Alison Watt, sailor Geoffrey, Karen

Young, Jean Chapman, Janice

Griffiths, Joanne Rand, Ellen

Higginbotham, Julie Parkin, Molly

McLaren, the savage -- Vera Savage,

Vanessa James, Olivia Craig,

Elizabeth Jordan, Ricky Lander, Alec

Stewart, Leah Cohen, Hannah Collin,

Beryl Hammond, Jessica King, Tyler

Denton, Emma Kelty, Jean Hicks,

Linda Parker, Catherine Smith,

Leanne Mickey, Jane Sargent, Moira

Gilbertson, to Visa Wishart, and

O'Neill, Elizabeth Merriman, Gillian

Howell, Mary steel, Simone Grainger,

Michelle Anderson, Patricia

McIntosh, Lisa Chatterton, Susan

westward, Ella Parker, Janine

Bowater, Suzanne Brown, Rebecca

Dykes, Jodie Wilshire, Beverley

Bless, Gillian Grant, Pauline

Cockburn, Julie Fox, Melanie Clark,

Terry and Jones, Julie Clark, Amelia

Blake, Cassie Hayes, Claire Harris,

Cheryl Gabrielle Hooper, Danielle

Richardson, Jill Sadler, Lynn

McNally, Charlotte

Richardson, Jill Sadler, Lynn

McNally, Charlotte, Crystal who was

killed with her son who was 16 and

her baby daughter, Diane Gossett,

and since this list was sent to me

by Karen Smith, she takes me this

morning, to add three more women to

the list from over the weekend who

were Laura, Angela Rider and Fiona

Schofield. I also want to be the

names of women murdered at the hands

of terrorism in the UK in this last

year. It may seem to some that this

pattern of violence is different to

violence against women and girls.

However, we in this place must

recognise that the patterns of

violent behaviour and perpetration

of violence against women and girls

has been seen in the past history of

many of those who go on to commit

terrorist atrocities.

Their names are, Kirsty Bowden,

Sarah 's Eleanor, Georgina

Callander, Saffie Roussos, Kelly

Brewster, Olivia Campbell, Alison

Howe, Lisa Lees, Jane Taylor, Megan

Hurley, Nell Jones, Michelle Case,

Chloe Rutherford, Adie McLeod,

Courtney Boyle, Elaine McIver,

Andrea Christie. I want to finish my

remarks today by saying all of these

women mattered. So many people want

to use their political persuasion to

assume that perpetrators of this

violence look and think in a certain

way. I care about all women and I

want to pay tribute today to the all

women Count lobby taking place in

Parliament today to recognise the

advanced barriers to support and our

national sympathy... Go ahead.

I am

very grateful. Could I thank the

honourable lady on the half of the

House for the passion and experience

of which she speaks on domestic

violence and sadly in this case

murder itself? She spoke of Alison

Award, the constituents of mine

murdered. Alison's son was caught up

in the act as well, critically ill

in hospital. Life changing injuries.

The bitter irony was a senior

domestic abuse project worker, her

friend said she dedicated her life